Jan Hartl: In the early ‘90s even politicians felt they needed to learn from public opinion

Sociologist Jan Hartl set up Czechoslovakia’s first modern-day polling
agency, STEM, in 1990 and has been closely monitoring domestic politics and
society ever since. When we spoke, the conversation took in Czech
politicians’ shifting attitude to opinion surveys, Václav Havel’s
private discussion circle and the “cautious nature” of the country’s
voters. But I first asked Mr. Hartl for his standout memories of the Velvet
Revolution.